Poetry Friday: The 2017 Progressive Poem, in all its seafaring, dragon-drama glory!

Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem wrapped up last weekend! Each day throughout April a different person would add a line until we finally had a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30…and as always, there were a few surprises on our way to the finish line.

One never knows what form – if any – the poem will take when the first person (in this case, Heidi Mordhorst) starts things off. Perhaps it will be metrical, perhaps not; maybe it will rhyme, maybe not. This year’s poem jumped back-and-forth, particularly when it came to whether or not to rhyme – some lines did, others didn’t, depending on what each writer decided to do with his/her line.

But somehow, like always, it all made sense by the time it was completed! If you’d like to listen to the audio of it, click play (but please forgive my giant head…I can’t do anything about that!):

The Secret Inside the Book

I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges–
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle,
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

But edges, sometimes, need sandpaper…
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour
facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

I thread the crowd, wear freedom in my smile
and warm to the coals of conversation.
Enticed to the stage by strands of story,
I skip up the stairs in anticipation.

Flip around, face the crowd, and freeze!
Shiver me. Look who’s here. Must I disappear?
By hook or by crook, I deserve a second look!
I cheer. Please, have no fear. Find the book.

But wait! I’ll share the lines I know by heart.
Mythical howls, fiery tones slip from my lips
Blue scales flash, claws rip, the prophecy begins
Dragonworld weaves webs that grip. I take a trip…

“Anchors aweigh!” Steadfast at helm on clipper ship
a topsail schooner, with sails unfurled, speeds away
As, true-hearted dragon pirate, I sashay
with my wise parrot, Robyn, through the spray.

“Land Ho!” (“Land Ho!”) We’ve hooked the whole crowd.
So it’s true what they say: the play IS the thing.
Stepping back from my blocking, theatre grows loud…
I draw my sword, while shielding the BOOK–the house din dies.

With rhythmical wordplay, I unleash a surprise…
I leap into my book, bid my readers “Goodbye!” (Goodbye!)

.

In case you’d like to check out any of the lines as they were added throughout the month, here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

You can also visit Irene Latham’s blog, Live Your Poem, to see all of the past 5 years’ Progressive Poems. And for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup, head on over to Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup!

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “Poetry…Cubed!” wraps up today!

Before I get to today’s post, I just wanted to mention that – in case you missed it – I shared a few new peeks of my debut picture book, Flashlight Night (Boyd’s Mills Press, 2017) this past Tuesday! The advance copy arrived in the mail while I was at the New England SCBWI conference, and what a welcome home gift it was.

So now I’m back from my conference, and have a few more poems to share as we wrap up this month-long writing challenge I call “Poetry…Cubed!” – based on the premise of the The Food Network show, “Chopped!”

Writers were asked to use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem – any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. The only hitch was that a reference to all three images needed to be included in the poem.

Out of all the poems submitted, one lucky person would be chosen at random to receive a copy of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015). Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared a number of entries, and today, we have FIVE more poems!

But first…here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

                 

(All images courtesy of Katherine Esenwine) 

The first poem is by Brenda Davis Harsham, who saw all sorts of emotion within those pictures:

Van Gogh the Trickster

With his swirling strokes,
flowers unfold, stars twinkle,
Japanese screen images flirt,
couples lean in, sowers seed,
and your eye is tricked
into thinking
paint is real,
happiness lasts,
and youth is forever.

– © 2017 Brenda Davis Harsham, all rights reserved

.

Today’s second entry is a haiku from The Poetry Princess herself, Joy Acey:

Eye of the Tiger
on the silver movie screen
a white hibiscus

– © 2017 Joy Acey,  all rights reserved

.
Third, we have a poem from Karen Eastlund, who was inspired to write this poem after she saw a billboard on the way to her aunt & uncle’s house:

Best Billboard

The billboard caught my eye immediately
Not for its bright colors
Or flowery words
But for the humor

PETRIFIED WATERMELONS
Take one home to your mother-in-law

We laughed our way to
My uncle’s house
And then we laughed some more

– © 2017 Karen Eastlund,  all rights reserved

.

Our fourth poem comes from Donna Smith, who took a break from packing (in advance of a big move), to write a poem for this challenge:

Vision

My vision clouded
Confounded
By these walls,
Surrounded;
But on the other side
The blossoms
Of sweeter times
Rebound;
Days of freedom
Behind and ahead
Resound;
In glory
Astound.

.
– © 2017 Donna JT Smith, all rights reserved

.

Last but certainly not least, is a poem by Kay Jernigan McGriff, who weaves all 3 images into a spring scene:

Focus

A clenched bud
unfurls its petals
one by one
as spring unspools
before my eyes.

Bees dance
across the petals
step by step
as spring writes a new
saga across earth’s screen.

– © 2017 Kay Jernigan McGriff, all rights reserved

.
And out of all the entries…who is our randomly-picked winner??

Brenda Davis Harsham!

Congratulations, Brenda! I’ll get your copy of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations to you as soon as possible!

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REMEMBER: Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem continues! Each day throughout April a different person adds a line – until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30.

I added my line yesterday which means there are only a few days left, but if you’d like to follow along and see how it’s been progressing, here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

.

If you still can’t get enough poetry, head over to Teaching Authors, where JoAnn Early Macken and crew are celebrating today’s Poetry Friday roundup with April showers!

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Flashlight Night (Boyd’s Mills Press) hits bookshelves Sept. 5, 2017!

Pre-orders are available now by clicking the image of the cover to the right, or if you prefer, you can wait til Sept. 5 and purchase it at your favorite local bookstore.

(Good grief, this is all really happening…)

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

The 2017 Progressive Poem has arrived!

The day is finally here!

Irene Latham’s annual Progressive Poem has made its way to my little home on the web here, and it’s time for me to add my line to a poem that has been growing and developing for the past 26 days. And what better day to do this than today, Poem in Your Pocket Day. So find a poem you like, write it down or print it out, and hang onto it…and share it with someone who may enjoy it, as well!

If you don’t know, here’s how the Progressive Poem works: each day throughout April a different person adds a line until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30!

Our heroine (or hero?) has been on adventure that we learned was actually a stage production – or at least, that’s how many of us perceived it – so my illustrious fellow blogger/writer, Renee LaTulippe assisted with our denouement with yesterday’s line.

Today, it’s up to me to continue the saga! As the poem has bounced between rhyming and non-rhyming lines, metered and unmetered, I tried not to worry too much about form, but did try to maintain the integrity of the previous lines and the movement of the poem itself:

I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges–
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

But edges sometimes need sandpaper,
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour
facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

I thread the crowd, wear freedom in my smile,
and warm to the coals of conversation.
Enticed to the stage by strands of story,
I skip up the stairs in anticipation.

Flip around, face the crowd, and freeze!
Shiver me. Look who’s here. Must I disappear?
By hook or by crook, I deserve a second look!
I cheer. Please, have no fear. Find the book.

But wait! I’ll share the lines I know by heart.
Mythical howls, fiery tones slip from my lip
Blue scales flash, claws rip, the prophecy begins
Dragonworld weaves webs that grip. I take a trip…

“Anchors aweigh!” Steadfast at helm on clipper ship,
a topsail schooner, with sails unfurled, speeds away
As, true-hearted dragon pirate, I sashay
with my wise parrot, Robyn, through the spray.

“Land Ho!” (“Land Ho!”) We’ve hooked the whole crowd.
So it’s true what they say: the play IS the thing.
Stepping back from my blocking, theatre grows loud…

.

Take it away, Michelle!

If you’d like, you can follow along and watch the progress – and catch up on how the poem has “progressed” up to this point! Here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: The Return of “Poetry…Cubed!”

National Poetry Month begins tomorrow, so I thought it was about time I brought back a little contest I created a couple years ago, and give you a chance to win a little something for your trouble!

If you’ve ever seen “Chopped!” on The Food Network, then you already know how this works. In this reality-TV game show, chefs battle each other by trying to create
the best dishes they can using specific – and often bizarre – ingredients given to them in a special basket. For example, contestants might have to create appetizers using endives, tempeh, raw oysters, and M&Ms. And yes, the ingredients are often that ridiculous.

So for this contest, I’ve taken the premise of the TV show and applied it to poetry – but without the 20-minute time limit, lacerated appendages, and broken dreams. I call it “Poetry…Cubed!” Here’s how it works:

• Use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem. (1 poem, to the 3rd power – “cubed,” get it??)
• The poem can be any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. Oh – and it also doesn’t have to be very good! Remember my mantra: #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading. This is all about having fun while writing, so no pressure allowed!
• The only hitch is that you need to include a reference to all three images in the poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. (Heck, it’s poetry, so stretch the boundaries!)
• Then email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here on Fri., April 28. Out of all the poems submitted, one lucky writer will be chosen at random to receive a copy of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015), which not only features a Bob Raczk poem about National Poetry Month, but also a poem by Yours Truly in honor of National Cereal Day (March 7)!

Keep in mind, I can only format poems to a small degree – so if possible, try to refrain from lots of unusual breaks and text placement. I’ll do my best to format your poem per your wishes, but WordPress will only allow me to do so much; blogging platforms aren’t known for being particularly poetry-friendly!

Now…without any further ado…here are your three images (click on any to enlarge):

                 

(All images courtesy of Katherine Esenwine) 

It’s sometimes difficult to figure out how to combine three disparate images into one poem; in many cases, it takes several lines and a few different stanzas to tell the story effectively.

Which is why I, never one to back down from a challenge, decided to try writing a haiku, a form which would require the smallest amount of words. (I love making things difficult for myself)

I have to be honest, I never gave any thought to how these three images would work together before I selected them. I simply picked them from a trove of pictures available and posted them – so you & I both began looking at them with fresh eyes and the same sense of bewilderment. But after about 20 minutes of poetic pondering, I came up with this…

stamen, style, stigma,
steam; corolla blooms magic
as iris opens

– © 2017, Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

At this point, I was going to explain my thought process – but I think I’ll hold off on that for a week. I’d love to see if you can figure out how the imagery in my poem connects to the images shown. Read it again, if you’d like, and please let me know your thoughts in the comments, below – I am truly eager to hear from you!

Be sure to email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com before Thur., April 27…and also don’t forget to visit Amy at The Poem Farm, where she is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup along with a blog birthday and a celebration of colors!

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ALSO! Starting tomorrow, Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem gets underway! Writer/blogger Heidi Mordhorst will start things off with one line, and each day throughout April a different person will add a line – until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30!

I won’t be adding my 2 cents worth until late in the month, but it’s fun to follow along and watch the progress; here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

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Due out Sept. 5, 2017 from Boyd’s Mills Press! Pre-orders available now!

 

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: The 2016 Progressive Poem (Audio!)

Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem wrapped up last weekend – but I couldn’t let pass the opportunity to share it in full!

If you are unaware of what I’m talking about, allow me to explain: during the month of April, different writers took turns adding a line to the poem each day – and Donna from Mainely Write put the bow on it last Saturday in pure, unexpected poetic style!

As I have done the last few years, I recorded the poem and am sharing it here; the text follows. Forgive me for my allergies…it’s not quite as good as I’d like it to be, but spring in New England is rough on me. (and please also forgive the giant head – I have no control over how big WordPress makes the link graphics!)

West Wind Dreams of Taking Shape (or, Thoughts Take Flight)

A squall of hawk wings stirs the sky.
A hummingbird holds and then hies.
“If I could fly, I’d choose to be
Sailing through a forest of poet-trees.”
A cast of crabs engraves the sand
Delighting a child’s outstretched hand.
“If I could breathe under the sea,
I’d dive, I’d dip, I’d dance with glee.”
A clump of crocuses craves the sun.
Kites soar while joyful dogs run.
“I sing to spring, to budding green,
to all of life – seen and unseen.”
Wee whispers drift from cloud to ear
and finally reach one divining seer
who looks up from her perch and beams —
“West Wind is dreaming May, it seems.”
Golden wings open and gleam
as I greet the prancing team.
“Gliding aside with lyrical speed,
I’d ride Pegasus to Ganymede.”
To a pied pocket, the zephyr returns.
Blowing soft words the seer discerns
“from earthbound voyage to dreamy night,
The time is now.  I give you flight!”
Yet I fear I am no kite or bird –
I lift!  The world below me blurred
by tears of joy.  I spiral high,
“I hum, I dive, I dip, I hive!”
“Behold, Spring is but a dance away!”
I grasp my pen, then capture this day.

If you’re interested, you can find all the folks who participated in the 2016 Progressive Poem at the following blog spots:

April

1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Doraine at Dori Reads

4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots

6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

10 Pat at Writer on a Horse

11 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

12 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance

14 Jone at Deo Writer

15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Charles at Charles Waters Poetry

20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio

22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

30 Donna at Mainely Write

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If you’re looking for more poetry, you’re in luck! Sylvia Vardell is hosting Poetry Friday today, so head on over to her place for the complete list of links along with a special Mother’s Day celebration!

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

The Poetry of Mylee!

Who in the world is Mylee, you ask?

She’s a budding young poet who just sent me a poetry postcard!

You see, Mylee is a student at Silver Star Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington, where Jone MacCulloch (aka, Ms. Mac!) is a library media specialist,  in addition to being a great cheerleader of literacy and children’s poetry.

Each year, Jone’s students write poems that they illustrate and then place on postcards, to be mailed out to any and all in the kidlitosphere who wish to receive one. I’m very honored to have received Mylee’s this year:

(Click to enlarge)

Thank you, Jone and Mylee! I keep coming back to that line, “I am at all as a book”…very thought-provoking.

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I’m still trying to get caught up on emails, work, and sleep, following my long, 3-day weekend in Springfield, Mass. at the New England SCBWI’s huge spring conference, where I co-hosted the Open Mic nights Fri. & Sat. with Sharon Abra Hanen and also presented a workshop on free verse poetry Sun. afternoon.

Because of this, I missed seeing how Irene Latham‘s 2016 Progressive Poem ended on Sat.! A different writer added a line each day throughout the month of April, and it all concluded with Donna at Mainely Write…I finally had a chance to see how she wrapped it up and I thought she did so very nicely!

You can hear (and read) the Progressive Poem in its entirety right here this Friday, as I’ll be recording it and sharing it everyone for Poetry Friday. Meanwhile, you can see how the Progressive Poem progressed at the following blog spots:

April

1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Doraine at Dori Reads

4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots

6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

10 Pat at Writer on a Horse

11 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

12 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance

14 Jone at Deo Writer

15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Charles at Charles Waters Poetry

20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio

22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

30 Donna at Mainely Write

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Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

 .

Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: #My5thGradeAsHaiku

Hi! I’m not really here right now. I know, it seems like I’m talking to you…but I’ve pre-recorded this message because I’m actually on my way to Springfield, MA this morning for the local NESCBWI conference! (That’s why I’m posting this Thursday night instead of Friday – ssh, don’t tell anyone.)

I’m very excited about this year’s conference – not only because the conference is a wealth of information and networking possibilities, but because I’ll be presenting my first conference workshop this Sunday: “Free Yourself with Free-Verse Poetry.” And the timing couldn’t be better, as I just learned a few days ago that a free verse poem of mine was a runner-up in a national contest sponsored by the Young Adult Review Network!

Now, on to today’s post…

Poet, educator, and blogger Laura Shovan is celebrating a monumental accomplishment this month:  the release of her debut middle grade novel-in-verse, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary (Wendy Lamb Books), which was just released a couple of weeks ago. Congratulations, Laura!

Part of Laura’s celebration has included a fun little poetry challenge she created for Twitter, called  #My5thGradeAsHaiku. Anyone who wanted to share their memories of 5th grade was invited to write a haiku (well, technically, a senryu, but we won’t split hairs) and post it on Twitter with the #My5thGradeAsHaiku hashtag. And she got a BUNCH of responses!

I wrote one within the first few days of her announcing the challenge – a list poem, of sorts – but I kept thinking about my elementary days and ended up writing a couple more. So here are all three…hope you like them:
.

#My5thGradeAsHaiku

Star Wars, soccer games,
Mrs. Day, Mr. Lemire, and…
Tracy in English.
.

new thick-rimmed glasses
one more reason to hate me
like they needed one
.

another morning
I dread the bus; forced to lie,
I’m too sick to go
.

– all poems © 2016 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

As I look back on it, 5th grade really wasn’t much of a hoot for me – but neither was 4th or 6th, for that matter. Ah, well. For today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup, head on over to Buffy’s Blog, where Buffy Silverman is hosting the festivities!

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Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem is almost ready to wrap up! A different writer adds a line each day – and we’ll see how it all turns out tomorrow, with Donna from Mainely Write! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; today, Sheila Renfro is adding her line…be sure to visit and see how the Progressive poem has…progressed!

You can follow the 2015 Progressive Poem at the following blog spots:

April

1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Doraine at Dori Reads

4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots

6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

10 Pat at Writer on a Horse

11 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

12 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance

14 Jone at Deo Writer

15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Charles at Charles Waters Poetry

20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio

22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

30 Donna at Mainely Write

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